1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing on a print target including a data recordable recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been conventional printing apparatuses for printing characters e.g. the tile of data, which is recorded on an optical disc (recording medium), on a surface thereof. The optical disc (recording medium) includes CD-R (Compact Disk Recordable), CD-RW(Compact Disk ReWritable), DVD-R (Digital Versatile Disk Recordable). Among such printing apparatus, one is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-72155. This printing apparatus comprises a tray that is movable between within and without the apparatus body, with a recording medium being mounted thereon. This tray extends out of the apparatus body, and a recording medium is mounted on the tray. The tray retracts into the apparatus body, and printing is performed on the recording medium by a printing mechanism provided within the apparatus body. This printing mechanism of the printing apparatus performs printing on a predetermined area of the recording medium mounted on the tray, by moving a carriage having a thermal head equipped therewith, on a tray stored in the apparatus body. This printing apparatus requires having a tray on which a recording medium is to be placed and which is movable relative to the apparatus body; a printing mechanism that moves such carriage having a thermal head equipped therewith within the apparatus body; and so forth. Thus, the structure of the apparatus becomes not necessarily simple.
Against this backdrop, the inventor of the present invention has developed an improved printing apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium. This printing apparatus is an improved one of printing mechanisms for tape printing apparatus, one example of which is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-225746. This improved apparatus performs printing on a conventional tape-typed label and can perform printing on a recording medium, as well as performing printing on such a tape-typed label. This improved printing apparatus comprises a printing mechanism in which a thermal head and a platen are oriented vertically and placed face to face, in a predetermined position within the body thereof. The printing apparatus can house an ink cartridge holding an ink ribbon, in a cartridge storage provided at a predetermined position of the apparatus body, in order that the ink ribbon is supplied to this printing mechanism. The structure of this printing apparatus is such that the printing mechanism is driven to carry a recording medium set in its upright position together with the ink ribbon, and thermal transfer printing is performed on a label surface of a recording medium.
When the tape-typed label and an ink cartridge holding an ink ribbon is stored in a cartridge storage, this improved printing apparatus performs thermal transfer printing on such a tape-typed label, in the same way as a conventional tape printing apparatus.
On the other hand, the improved printing apparatus performs printing on a recording medium when the recording medium and an ink cartridge holding an ink ribbon are stored in the cartridge storage.
In this case, the body of the printing apparatus is flat-box-shaped, and the height of the apparatus body is smaller than the diameter of a discoid recording medium. Thus, in order that a recording medium can be mounted in its upright position on the apparatus body, conveyed in the upright position and can have printing performed thereon uprighted, a slit-shaped slot into which a recording medium is inserted is formed on a cover provided for the apparatus body, which covers the cartridge storage in an openable and closable manner, and in such a way that the slot is above and along the conveyance path for conveying the recording medium.
In this improved printing apparatus, firstly the cover provided for the apparatus body is opened, the ink cartridge is stored in the cartridge storage, then the cover provided for the apparatus body is closed and after that the uprighted recording medium is inserted through the slot and mounted on a set position in the apparatus body. In the state in which the recording medium is set to the apparatus body, the center part of the upright-positioned recording medium aligns with the slot of the cover, with the lower half of the recording medium being loaded in the apparatus body and the upper half thereof projecting from the cover toward the outside. When a printing operation is started by the printing mechanism, the ink of the ink ribbon is transferred, by the heating of the thermal head, to the label surface of the recording medium, which is conveyed in such a way as to be sandwiched by the thermal head and a platen, via an ink ribbon put on the top surface of the uprighted recording medium.
In the printing apparatus of this type, a slit-shaped slot is formed on the cover provided for the apparatus body, and a recording medium, which is a print target to be subjected to a printing operation, is inserted through the slot in its upright position. However, due to the slit-shaped slot formed on the cover provided for the apparatus body, the strength of the cover provided for the apparatus body weakens. Therefore, a relatively small external force or an impact might break or damage the cover provided for the apparatus body. To avoid this, a possible measure is to provide a reinforcement member on an edge portion of the slot of the cover provided for the apparatus body. However, this measure involves a problem of an increased complexity of the structure of the cover or cost increase in manufacturing.